Lesson Overview In this lesson students will brainstorm what they think about the makeup of the Earth. Last class we learned about how the Earth has layers. I would give guiding questions in order to have a discussion based around rocks and minerals. Objectives Students will write their own definitions of (and differences between) rocks and minerals. Students will successfully complete and inquiry activity in pairs.
Safety Issues Students will practice basic classroom safety. When observing/experimenting with the rocks and minerals, students must wear safety goggles at the following stations -“Hammer Time” -“Make It Rain” -“Bend and Break” These stations consist of breaking rocks and minerals with a hammer, using water to try and dissolve the rocks and minerals, and cleaving the rocks and minerals. There could also be a station using streak methods, which would also require safety goggles.
Instruction This lesson will take place over 2-3 days. It is an inquiry activity and the students will be asking and answering their own questions in pairs of two.
Opening I will begin the lesson by polling the students with questions such as “Raise your hand if you know what these words mean” and using words such as minerals, rocks, sand, granite, fracture, luster, stone, etc. After jogging the students memory about vocabulary they have heard in the past, I will begin to make a word bank. I will begin the word bank with the title “Earth’s Stuff” and ask if anyone would like to share their answer to last nights question. I will repeat the question (what are the basic things that make up the Earth) and have students talk out their answers. I will write down the key points to the answers I receive, and later will use these to create a mind map. Then I will begin by asking the students who can define certain words. I will help students answer some of the words, but not give them definitions of others. I will ask them to compare words, for example sand and rocks, or tell me the difference between granite and stone. These questions will begin the student thought process and start the inquiry activity. (5-10 minutes)
Learning Activities I will then instruct the students to get a piece of paper out and write down five questions they want to explore. I will tell them that they can use any of the materials in the classroom, which will begin me to explain the materials. Depending on the rocks and minerals available to me, the stations may change. Ideally though, there will be stations experimenting with all of the ways to classify minerals (luster, color/shade, hardness, cleavage, streak, etc.). I will also have seemingly random materials from the prep closet along the lab benches (scales, rulers, magnifying glasses, string, tape, play doh, bricks, cotton balls, etc.) to help students be creative. (35-40 minutes)
Closing The students will all have a question by the end of class, and some will even have a method of experimenting. We will close the class period by going around the room and each group will say their question to the class. Ideally, each group will have different questions, but if there are repeats I will ask them to get together at the beginning of the next class and explore the same question but in different ways. (5 minutes)
Assessment Inquiry assessment will be completed at the end of the activity
Homework If the students did not finish their question or basic procedure, then they will finish this at home. Additional Notes
Unit: Earth’s Interior
Title: Earth’s “Stuff”
Lesson Overview
In this lesson students will brainstorm what they think about the makeup of the Earth. Last class we learned about how the Earth has layers. I would give guiding questions in order to have a discussion based around rocks and minerals.
Objectives
Students will write their own definitions of (and differences between) rocks and minerals.
Students will successfully complete and inquiry activity in pairs.
Materials
- Rocks and minerals (in prep closet)
- Whiteboard
- Dry erase markers
Links to Resourceshttp://www.appstate.edu/~abbottrn/mnrl-id/
Safety Issues
Students will practice basic classroom safety.
When observing/experimenting with the rocks and minerals, students must wear safety goggles at the following stations
-“Hammer Time”
-“Make It Rain”
-“Bend and Break”
These stations consist of breaking rocks and minerals with a hammer, using water to try and dissolve the rocks and minerals, and cleaving the rocks and minerals. There could also be a station using streak methods, which would also require safety goggles.
Instruction
This lesson will take place over 2-3 days. It is an inquiry activity and the students will be asking and answering their own questions in pairs of two.
Opening
I will begin the lesson by polling the students with questions such as “Raise your hand if you know what these words mean” and using words such as minerals, rocks, sand, granite, fracture, luster, stone, etc. After jogging the students memory about vocabulary they have heard in the past, I will begin to make a word bank. I will begin the word bank with the title “Earth’s Stuff” and ask if anyone would like to share their answer to last nights question. I will repeat the question (what are the basic things that make up the Earth) and have students talk out their answers. I will write down the key points to the answers I receive, and later will use these to create a mind map. Then I will begin by asking the students who can define certain words. I will help students answer some of the words, but not give them definitions of others. I will ask them to compare words, for example sand and rocks, or tell me the difference between granite and stone. These questions will begin the student thought process and start the inquiry activity.
(5-10 minutes)
Learning Activities
I will then instruct the students to get a piece of paper out and write down five questions they want to explore. I will tell them that they can use any of the materials in the classroom, which will begin me to explain the materials. Depending on the rocks and minerals available to me, the stations may change. Ideally though, there will be stations experimenting with all of the ways to classify minerals (luster, color/shade, hardness, cleavage, streak, etc.). I will also have seemingly random materials from the prep closet along the lab benches (scales, rulers, magnifying glasses, string, tape, play doh, bricks, cotton balls, etc.) to help students be creative.
(35-40 minutes)
Closing
The students will all have a question by the end of class, and some will even have a method of experimenting. We will close the class period by going around the room and each group will say their question to the class. Ideally, each group will have different questions, but if there are repeats I will ask them to get together at the beginning of the next class and explore the same question but in different ways.
(5 minutes)
Assessment
Inquiry assessment will be completed at the end of the activity
Homework
If the students did not finish their question or basic procedure, then they will finish this at home.
Additional Notes
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